The LSU defense entered Saturday night’s game against Tulane on the heels of a 52-38 home loss to Georgia and a week of scrutiny. But for a moment in the second quarter, the Tigers’ defense looked to be back to its old form. With the Tigers up only 14-3 late in the second quarter, LSU junior defensive end Rahim Alem forced a fumble that was picked up by junior cornerback Chris Hawkins and returned for a 24-yard touchdown. It was the first defensive touchdown for the Tigers this season and only the fourth fumble recovery. Tulane coach Bob Toledo said the play was a big part of the Tigers’ 35-10 victory Saturday night in Tiger Stadium. ”I hate to use one play as the turning point,” he said. “But that play hurt us because we could have gone in at halftime and still had a chance.” Alem said it was a spark for the team. ”We practice that if you come from the back side you hit that arm of the quarterback,” he said. “I was looking at the ball and was crawling to get the ball, and I saw Chris [Hawkins] pick it up. I didn’t hear any whistles, so I knew something good was happening.” But despite the second quarter turnover, the defense still left question marks in certain areas of the stat sheet. The Tigers got only two sacks in the game, giving them 18 on the season. LSU had 37 sacks in 2007. The Tigers also had no interceptions against Tulane’s two young quarterbacks, leaving them with only four on the year. LSU had 23 total interceptions last season. And the secondary had a couple of key pass interference penalties that cost the team. ”We cannot make mistakes,” said LSU coach Les Miles. “There were too many mistakes … Certainly, we are still making mistakes at times, but I don’t think that was a team that has peaked at play.” The Green Wave (2-6, 1-3 Conference USA) also hurt themselves with some penalties. A holding penalty on third-and7 on LSU’s 25 pushed Tulane back to a third-and-17. Tulane ended up scoring on the drive with a career-best 48 yard field goal by Ross Thevenot. ”The penalty hurt us tremendously,” Toledo said. “It took us out of a drive, and it cost us a touchdown.” Tulane’s offense controlled the clock for the majority of the first half. The Green Wave had nearly 18 minutes possession, while the Tigers had only 12. Most of Tulane’s offensive play selection came on the ground, running the ball 19 times and passing 12. ”The time of possession battle was close, but I think we played as hard as we could’ve played,” Toledo said. “We just made too many mistakes, and again, that hurt us.” LSU’s offense got off to a fast start, scoring on its opening possession on a 7-yard run by running back Charles Scott. The junior finished the game with   114 yards on 12 carries and a touchdown. Scott didn’t play in the second half because of an apparent injury, but he said it “feels good” now. ”Charles kind of tweaked his ankle,” said offensive lineman Ciron Black. “During [second-half] warmups he was fine. The coaches may have wanted to give someone else some touches. I just saw that he had tape on his ankle.” Redshirt freshman quarterback Jarrett Lee did not throw the ball much in the first half, going 5-for-11 for 45 yards and a touchdown. He finished the game with only eight completions on 20 attempts for 99 yards. Lee didn’t throw an interception until the fourth quarter when Tulane linebacker Travis Burks picked off a pass and returned it 43 yards for a touchdown. ”I just happened to be in the right place at the right time,” Burks said. “The d-line put a lot of pressure on the quarterback, which caused him to throw a bad ball.” Lee was injured on the play, but he returned the next series. ”I just got the breath knocked out of me,” he said. “I hadn’t got the breath knocked out of me since second grade, so I just forgot how it felt. But I’m fine.” Freshman Jordan Jefferson came in during the end of the fourth quarter to finish up the game. Although he didn’t throw a pass, the Tigers scored on a 3-yard rushing touchdown by Steven Ridley to put LSU up 35-10. ”We wanted to give him a number of snaps, and I’d liked to have thrown the football a little more at the end,” Miles said. “We didn’t want to put him in early with the idea that the game was still in question with the first snaps.” Lee said the game was a big confidence booster for both him and the offense. ”The offense managed the game well,” he said. “We made a few mistakes, but we can work on them. Overall we came out with a victory, and we’re excited about it.”